State Rep. John Davis: Ethically Challenged Part 4

John Davis, the Republican incumbent in Texas House District 129 has some huge problems with his Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) Campaign Finance Reports. You can see all of his filings here on the TEC website. I've previously reported on what's been uncovered from the past two years of his filings (that's how far back the TEC will investigate). The gist of most of these problems is that you have to follow TEC rules and give an explanation of what the expenses were for. Here's what I have uncovered so far: In American Express expenses with no explanation: $43,243.78. In reimbursements to himself with no explanation: $31,916.42. Then of course, there is the boot issue. And, now I bring to you his reimbursements to others with no explanation: $1471.28. You just can't be doing these things. Read the TEC rules here. You cannot take your campaign cash and spend it without explanation. I'm telling you, if it's OK to do that, then I'm runinng for an office in 2008 so I can spend my campaign donations at Banana Republic. Heck, if I spend it in the large chunks like John Davis has done, then I'll be shopping at Neiman Marcus. I'll be the best dressed candidate to ever appear on the Texas political scene. Don't put this past me. TEC, pay attention. Ethics charges have been filed and you can read the TEC letter to Davis where they notify him of the complaint, that there will be a hearing and what he is required to do in preparation for that hearing. They've rescheduled the hearing until after the election, which is why it is important to get this information out now. I can't imagine why he wouldn't be fined, unless the TEC is completely toothless and worthless. It would be a real shame for the voters in HD-129 to re-elect such an ethically challenged politician, when they have a great alternative in the race - Sherrie Matula. Sherrie taught for 25 years, served two terms on the Clear Creek ISD school board and has a huge pile of endorsements (stay tuned for more of those). She's a long time activist and has experience working with the legislature on education and community issues. Just as the clear loser in this race is John Davis, the clear winner is Sherrie Matula.

Cheerleader Shelley On Parade!

Dang! The muse camera had a battery issue while I was at the Fort Bend County Fair Parade today. Luckily, a muse friend was snapping pictures like crazy and I am able to bring to you a photo of Cheerleader Shelley! She actually ditched the Barbie attire and chose to wear the SAME OUTFIT she wore to the candidate forum in Rosenberg last night. Did she sleep in these clothes? Did she think no one would notice? GO TEAM! Here's the cheer I think she was leading:

I said a boom chica boom! I said a boom boom chica boom! I said booma chica rocka chica rocka chica boom!

Why this one? My daughter used to be a cheerleader and this is a cheer that I remember. Like Shelley's write-in candidacy, it makes no damn sense! GO TEAM!

Is That Veronica Torres?!!!

The Fort Bend County Fair Parade was today and our Democratic candidates for County offices were on a float. I have a cute story about Veronica Torres, our next District Clerk in Fort Bend County. As our float went along the three mile route, little girls along the parade route would point at the float and say, "Is that Veronica Torres!!?" Veronica well deserves this hero worship as she is massively more qualified than her opponent. She is a Lead Legal Process Specialist in the County Clerk's office. She has also serves as the Clerk of the County Court at Law. Her opponent has no experience in the county clerk's office and no supervisory experience. Supervisory experience is key in this job as the District Clerk has a large staff. I also just got a report that Veronica Torres t-shirts are selling like hotcakes at the Fort Bend County Fair at our Fort Bend Democrats double-wide booth. Go Team Veronica!

Nine Houston City Council Members Walk Out On Shelley

I've heard rumors that there is no love lost between Shelley Sekula-Gibbs and her fellow City Council Members. And, that while she may have political skills - social skills? Not so much. At the end of today's City Council meeting, when other members were offering condolences to the family of slain police offer Rodney Johnson (who was alledgedly killed by an illegal immigrant), Shelley chose to denounce the non-existent "sanctuary policy" in Houston. Nine council members left the room temporarily in protest of her completely inappropriate political remarks at a time when a family was mourning. Carol Alvarado (no love lost there), was the first to leave. The Houston Chronicle had this to say: "I was embarrassed to be in the room with somebody talking like that," said Councilwoman Toni Lawrence, a Republican and one of the first to leave. Alvarado, a Democrat who has been on council since 2002, said she couldn't remember another time when council members walked out on a colleague because of a comment. Some members left a meeting with former Mayor Lee Brown, but that move was a parliamentary tactic to keep the panel from voting on a contentious issue, she said. Sekula-Gibbs later defended her statement, saying such an important issue cannot be ignored. "The sanctuary city policy may or may not have contributed to this officer's death, but it certainly needs to be addressed," she said amid a flurry of reporters' questions after the meeting.

-----

Councilman Ronald Green, who spoke after Sekula-Gibbs, was applauded by his colleagues for denouncing her comments.

''You wouldn't stoop so low to use this man's memory to advance a political career that may or may not be going anywhere," he said.

Why would anyone take the time to write this woman's name in to be our congressperson in the 22nd Congressional District? Maybe those few people who still have W stickers on their cars AND are also pen pals with Tom DeLay now, training him for a way to spend his spare time when he's in jail.

Shelley's behavior does not come as a surprise to me. I have friends who are close to certain city council members and I've had some things whispered to me that makes today's episode less than stunning. I guess I just never thought I'd see her bad behavior and their lack of respect for her become so public.

Go, Team Lampson.

Give John Davis The Boot On Nov. 7th

Remember me telling you that State Representative John Davis, Republican, HD-129, spent $1500 of his campaign cash on boots? Here's what it said on his campaign finance report, filed with the Texas Ethics Commission (on the July 2006 semi-annual report): Jersey Boots 607 A College Avenue South Houston TX 77587 5/29/2006 $1,537.15 Merchandise purchases But, it's not Jersey Boots. There is no such place of business. I couldn't find it anywhere. Finally, I googled 607 College Avenue, South Houston, and what do you know. There is a custom boot shop at that address, but it's called Jesse's Boot Repair. Just to prove to myself that this place actually existed, I mapquested the place and took a little side trip over to South Houston today. Sure enough, there it was, Jesse's Boot Repair, with a cool GIANT BOOT out front. I had my trusty muse camera with me so I have photo evidence. Can you spend campaign cash on personal items? Well, NO. There is actually a schedule - Schedule I - in the Cash on Hand instructions from the Texas Ethics Commission that candidates use in filing their Campaign Finance Reports, if they are dumb enough to get themselves in this mess. On Schedule I, it says: You must enter all non-political expenditures from political contributions on this schedule, regardless of the amount. A non-political expenditure is an expenditure that is neither a campaign expenditure nor an officeholder expenditure. Remember that you may not convert political contributions to personal use. Seems rather clear to me. When I was at Jesse's boot shop, I saw that they also sold saddles. And handbags. So, on the way home from my little jaunt, I went through a mental exercise of what in the world Davis could have bought there that had anything to do with being a campaign expenditure. Perhaps a saddle for an appearance at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo where he announced his candidacy? No, that's just silly. Maybe a handbag for his wife with "Vote for My Dufus Husband Who You Have Never Heard of, But He's Running Again for State Rep."? Not likely. Readers? Thoughts as to how the $1500 expenditure at Jesse's might be explained away on a revised Campaign Finance Report? Let's focus on Sherrie Matula giving him the boot on Nov. 7th. He won't have his campaign finance mess cleared up by then, so he can spend his newly found free time finding receipts.

Memo To Lampson Campaign: Show Me The Poll Results!

Life is tough when the Lampson campaign knows you are a key volunteer and a blogger in Fort Bend and you have to get the brand spanking new Lampson poll results from a Houston blogger. Thanks to Off the Kuff, I get to show you this: Recent Polling Shows 29 Point Lead for Nick Lampson in TX-22 Houston, TX—In a recent poll conducted by Bennett, Petts and Blumenthal for Lampson for Congress, Nick Lampson enjoys a 29 point lead over his top write-in-opponent. With his write-in-opponents facing a myriad of challenges unique to this race, a ten-to-one lead in fundraising, and an 18 month head start over his GOP opponents in every other category, Nick Lampson is well positioned for victory on November 7. GOP has failed to unify behind a single candidate. Three Republican write-in candidates collectively pull 21% of the vote in this survey. When asked who they will support in November, only 14% indicated that they will write-in GOP annointee Shelley Sekula Gibbs’s name. 7 % say they will write-in another candidate. 43% say they will select Nick Lampson. Voters face a time-consuming and complicated process to dial in the name of a write-in candidate on the e-slate machines used for voting in this district. In a generic vote for Congress, only 39% say they will support the Republican candidate. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs is running as Tom DeLay’s handpicked write-in candidate and is forced to defend him in the media. DeLay’s favorable ratings remain extremely low: 53% had an unfavorable opinion of him in this survey, while his approval rating stands at only 28%. ______________________________________________________________________________ Vote for U.S. Congress If the GENERAL ELECTION for U.S. Congress were held today and the candidates were: [ROTATE] o Nick Lampson, the Democrat o Bob Smither, the Libertarian for whom would you vote or would you write-in another candidate? (IF WRITE-IN) Who would you write in? LAMPSON ...............................................................43% SMITHER.................................................................10 WRITE-IN (SHELLEY SEKULA GIBBS) ..................14 WRITE-IN (OTHER: SPECIFY _______) ..................7 (UNDECIDED) .........................................................26 Kuff says the sample size was 400 with a 4.9% margin of error. Read his commentary on this, including how he explains away Shelley's $3 million no-show with Weird Al Yankovic lyrics!

Texas Ethics Commission: Notice of Complaint to Rep. John Davis

I told you I hadn't finished digging up dirt on John Davis, the Republican incumbent in House District 129. Look what I uncovered - the letter to him from the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC) regarding the complaint that has been filed against him. You can read that two-page letter here and here. Here's one of the good parts: "the Ethics Commission has jurisdiction over the violations of law alleged in the sworn complaint. The complaint alleges that you failed to include information about political expenditures in campaign finance reports, in violation of section 254.031 of the Election Code and section 20.59 of the Ethics Commission Rules." It goes on to say that his response must be in writing and under oath and that he must provide evidence if he challenges the complaint or denies any of the charges. He had 10 business days in which to respond. If you have been keeping up with this you know I have dug up a bunch of stuff Davis did that was illegal (and there is more to come, so keep coming back.) So, what was the complaint about? The $43,000 in AmEx charges that had no explanation of what they were for. And, the $32,000 in reimbursements to himself from his campaign funds, again, with no explanation on the expenditures. You can't do that. You can't just haul off and spend your campaign funds and not give some detail on your TEC filing about those expenses. So, what's happened with the complaint? During the September hearing, the TEC didn't get to his complaint. Davis will file amended reports (they cover two years) and those will be available to the public. His hearing will be in November. After the election. Unfortunately for Davis, he's not going to be able to keep this undercover until after the election. This stuff is all over the internets (all of them) now, and it's not over.

Silly Sekula-Gibbs

I was at a birthday party tonight for a good friend of mine, husband of Juanita and father of Bryan (Bryan's blog) and Mark (View From 22). Bloggers were there. This might be news to you, but blogging is a competitive sport. We all want to be first with breaking news, insider scoop or the wittiest take on current events. Don put all of the bloggers to shame by commenting on "Silly Sekula-Gibbs". Why hadn't any of us thought of calling Shelley that? Because we are not Don. We were in the presence of a master tonight. We bow down before your superior political skills and wit, Don. Happy Birthday! And, bonus! I think I'm first up with a post sharing Shelley's new nickname on the internets.

Shelley's Hyphen Is Not Intact

Did you notice? Shelley lost her hyphen in a fit of passion over an encounter with an e-slate machine. See, she found out the handy-dandy etch-a-sketch voting machine thing doesn't have a hyphen. So, in the dead of night, when she filed as a write-in candidate with the Secretary of State, she dumped the hyphen. It's not like she hasn't changed her name before in order to further her political career. I mean, she went from Shelley Sekula to Sekula-Rodriguez after her late husband Sylvan Rodriguez died. Then, she ran for Houston City Council with her brand new Hispanic name. And no, I hadn't noticed Shelley's latest name change. It took Salon to point it out to me. But, yeah, look closely at her campaign materials and you'll find she is proudly announcing to the world her hyphen-less state.

A Gang Block Walk With Nick, Neeta and Veronica

We had a giant block walk in my neighborhood today with Congressman Nick Lampson (D-Sugar Land), Neeta Sane (candidate Fort Bend County Treasurer) and Veronica Torres (candidate Fort Bend County District Clerk) walking with us. Yeah, that's 17 people you see in that photo! By neighborhood, I mean right in the heart of First Colony, former and current home of Tom DeLay. I'm not going to give away our results, but if you are thinking, huh?, I wonder if they talked to any Republicans who have Had Enough and are going to vote Democratic this year, well, you are getting warm. Actually, hot! You are hot. Hal was there. And, coined the term "gang block walk". Yep, Kuff, it's a take off on my other favorite phrase, "gang blog." Someone lost a bet on this whole block walk thing today and had to eat his keyboard. I hope the hot sauce made it more palatable.

The Ultimate Diet Coke and Mentos Fountain Show
You gotta see this to believe it! 523 Mentos and 101 bottles of Diet Coke.

State Rep. John Davis Needs Your Prayers

State Representative John Davis, Republican HD-129, asks for your prayers in the matter of his ethics charges with the Texas Ethics Commission. Please pray specifically for the problem with using campaign cash to buy a $1500 pair of boots. Ask God to forgive him for the over $43,000 in American Express charges that do not have proper documentation. Pray that the Texas Ethics Commission ignores the almost $32,000 he reimbursed himself for out of pocket expenses for which he, again, provided no documentation. And, John Davis asks for your prayers in keeping muse from revealing more. Much more.

Kinky's Male Pattern Badness

Kinky has a pattern of bad behavior. I just saw this at Capitol Annex: Washington Post, September 8, 1986, Page C1:

“Nobody really understood women except maybe bisexual hairdressers,” and “a man without a woman was like a neck without a pain.”

Really? Men in my life, please speak up! Say stuff like, "my life would be incomplete without you, muse." Kinky has a long history of spouting inappropriate remarks. There's his "throw 'em in prison and make them listen to Negroes" remark. (video at the link) He called Houston's Katrina population "crackheads and thugs." Burnt Orange Report dug up this ridiculously offensive remark. Yall know how I feel about his Good Shepherd commercial. Kinky, you are no Jesus. Kinky is a joke. He's not worthy of being a candidate for governor. I like what Chris Bell had to say today: "The latest revelations of Kinky’s racist comments are disgusting. He can call it ‘satire’, but it’s just not funny. I’m in DC today for a fundraiser and I am deeply embarrassed; I’m not looking forward to trying to explain why anyone in the race for governor of the state of Texas is talking like this. Comments like these make all Texans look bad. The Texas in our hearts is not filled with hate. The only appropriate words right now would be: 'I’m sorry and I was wrong'. There is simply no justification for the use of racist language." Why the hell is anyone a Kinky supporter?

Here's What I've Had Enough Of

You haven't forgotten about the Had Enough Adopt-A-Sign program, have you? Juanita posted photos of a whole slew of the signs that have been adopted, some with their owners. I see there's a picture of the one that is in my front yard! What have you had enough of? Here's my partial list:

• the war in Iraq
• Rumsfeld and his idiotic fascist b.s.
• Cheney and his idiotic support for the war
• W
• W04 stickers on vehicles
• the high price of gas
• rising insurance rates
• Kinky Friedman and his goofy Good Shepherd commercial
• Rick Perry/Bob Perry (joined at the hip)
• Rick Perry faking it in his new commercial on education
• Rick Perry's plastinated hair
• Rick Perry's 65% rule
• John Davis being an ineffective boob
• grown-ups acting like middle schoolers
• ungrateful . . . well, you fill in the blank

I'm just getting started. Help me out in the comments with your suggestions.

Ethics Not State Rep. John Davis' Expertise

Uh oh. I found more dirt on John Davis, the Republican incumbent in HD-129. Davis paid himself $31,916.42 out of his campaign funds from 3/3/03 to 1/1/06 for "reimbursement of out of pocket expenses." You can do this. If you use your own money on your campaign, you can be reimbursed out of campaign funds. BUT, you must file certain schedules with the Texas Ethics Commission (TEC). If you fail to do this, you cannot go back and file an amended return. Here's exactly what Schedule G from the TEC's Cash on Hand instructions says: If you intend to seek reimbursement in any amount from political contributions for a political expenditure made from personal funds, you must either report the expenditure as a loan to yourself on Schedule E or itemize the expenditure on this schedule and check the box in Section 8 to indicate that you intend to seek reimbursement from political contributions. You may not correct a report to allow reimbursement. So, no problem. You spend your own money. You either report it as a loan on Schedule E or itemize it all on Schedule G. John Davis did neither. He simply reported on his Campaign Finance Reports that he paid himself out of his campaign funds for "reimbursement of out of pocket expenses." Want to know the amounts? Would you believe one of these unexplained reimbursements to himself is for $13,000? Another for $5000? And another for $4680? One for $3800 (found in this report)? That's not even all of them. What was he thinking? $13,000 out of his campaign funds, paid to himself for WHAT? To be honest, the Texas Ethics Commission instructions for how to report expenses reads like "How To Do The Exact Opposite Of What John Davis Did." So, what is the penalty for this sort of illegal campaign finance activity? Here's an example where the TEC assessed a fine of $1000 on $1650 in improperly reported personal expenditures. This happened in March of 2006 and the respondent was Edwin Rinehart, Montgomery County Precinct 4 Commissioner. From the section of the order entitled "Facts Supported by Credible Evidence": 11. The third report still disclosed the reimbursement to the respondent in the amount of $1,650, but did not clearly disclose who was the actual payee, or payees of that expenditure. 12. The respondent provided no evidence that the reimbursement was for political expenditures made from personal funds that had been properly reported. From "Findings and Conclusions of Law": 7. A candidate or officeholder who makes political expenditures from his or her personal funds may reimburse those personal funds from political contributions in the amount of the expenditures only if: (1) the expenditures from personal funds were fully reported as political expenditures on the report covering the period during which the expenditures were made; and (2) the report on which the expenditures from personal funds are disclosed clearly designates those expenditures as having been made from the person’s personal funds and that the expenditures are subject to reimbursement. ELEC. CODE § 253.035(h). 9. The respondent’s January 2004 semiannual report disclosed a $1,650 reimbursement to the respondent. However, the respondent provided no evidence that political expenditures from personal funds were disclosed in a prior reporting period or in the January 2004 reporting period. 11. The respondent was not permitted to reimburse himself for the political expenditure from personal funds because he did not report the expenditure in the reporting period in which it was made and designate that the expenditure was subject to reimbursement. The respondent improperly reimbursed himself. Therefore, there is credible evidence of a violation of sections 253.035 and 254.031 (a)(3) of the Election Code. If ethics are not his expertise what is? Definitely not education. So, what is John Davis good at? Give me a reason why he should be re-elected. Remember, a complaint HAS been filed with the TEC. I've got more digging to do. And, yeah, that's him in jeans in the photo. At a meeting of business people. Looks like he is as sloppy with his attire as he is with his campaign finance reports.

AG Greg Abbott's Staff Accused Of Being Peeping Toms

Yesterday, I shared with you that Charlie "2nd most conservative member of the Texas State House" Howard wants to "enhance citizen status verification when registering to vote." That's code for "let's intimidate the hell out of minorities so they WON'T register to vote". Today brings more of the same, but this time from Attorney General Greg Abbott (shout out to my friend who alerted me about the running joke pertaining to Abbott always going by his full title - say it with me, kids, "Attorney General Greg Abbott!"). The Houston Chronicle has a story about Abbott and the use of a voting law to scare minorities. Here's the peeping Tom incident: Gloria Meeks of Fort Worth, also 69, said she stepped out of her morning bath last month and screamed. Two voter fraud investigators from Attorney General Greg Abbott's office were peeking in her bathroom window. They were trying to nail her on a 2003 law that makes it a crime to deliver someone else's absentee ballot to election officials or put it in the mail. The law was created to keep political operatives from stealing votes by preying on the elderly and infirm. A suit has been filed arguing that the law infringes on voting rights. It will argue "that Abbott is selectively enforcing the law against Hispanics and blacks to intimidate minority voters and dilute their strength at the polls." No. Really? Abbott is protecting the vote by going after hardened criminals: Yet, of the 13 individuals indicted on charges of voter fraud by Abbott, 10 are accused of simply possessing another's absentee ballot for delivery to election officials or to a mailbox, Democrats say. Such activities had been legal until the 2003 law turned them into crimes. ----- Democrats also complain that of the 13 individuals indicted by Abbott for voter fraud, 12 are minority women while one is a white male. Moreover, Abbott's voter fraud indictments include no Republicans. My overall reaction to this is that the Republicans know that the voters have just about "Had Enough" and they are about to get their butts kicked out of Austin. So what to do? Take potential Democratic voters out of the voting pool. Sneak up to their bathroom windows and see them naked if you have to, in order to scare them out of voting.

I Heard From Charlie Howard Today

I got his newsletter in the mail. I swear I have never gotten one of these before. Perhaps I did and it somehow sensed my extreme dislike of the man, so it repelled itself from my hand and went straight to the trash can. Lots to learn in this thing. For example - yay! - Charlie Howard "earned the position of second most conservative member in the House of Representatives". Mike Hailey of Capitol Inside (who is he? what is that?) averaged the voting scores provided by the top five conservative organizations (unidentified) and Howard is second out of 150. I'm SO suprised. Did they average the scores of the most idiotic and worthless reps and Howard came in first and John Davis came in second? Sadly, Charlie Howard is running unopposed in November. At least John Davis has a challenger who is going to whoop his ass. Anyway, there's this letter from Charlie and then a whole, big bunch of text that is obviously NOT from Charlie. Like maybe some conservative dufus head created it for all of the Republican Reps for them to slap in their newsletter. There are a few callout boxes with things about Howard and how he is our knight in shining armor. Oh, man, this stuff is hilarious. I swear the things Republicans say are in SUCH another language - you gotta decode it:

Is It Wise To Tax Business?

When a business is taxed, prices are raised or jobs are cut to compensate for the increased costs. When companies raise taxes, consumers no longer see the amount of taxes they are paying. People may lose sight of the true cost of government and start wanting more "free" services. I say, cool! Don't vote for Rick Perry, then (I almost slipped and said Bob Perry). There is a whole big thing about immigration. The main points:

• illegal aliens are taking a toll on our state
• he is outraged over the illegal entry problem
• Texas is the doormat for the whole country with illegal aliens

Some of his brilliant solutions:

• end in-state tuition for non-citizens
• go after "sanctuary cities"
• enhance citizen status verification when registering to vote

On education we get this:

• providing more accurate textbooks (uh, oh. Read: Evolution)
• more academic curriculum
• placing more authority in elected positions
• breaking down barriers to parental involvement
• stream-line spending

Could his intentions for reforming education in Texas be any more different than mine and all thinkng people? Sherrie-Shelley-Sekula-Matula, PLEASE get yourself elected! I can't take this! I'm greedy. We ran off Tom DeLay, now let's run off this guy. If any of you have a super secret spy decoder ring and you can translate any of Howard's Republican-speak, post it in the comments! Oh, and Charlie Howard is in the flag shirt in the photo above. So, to my friend who wears his version of the flag shirt: Ditch the flag shirt!! This is why nobody likes the flag shirt. :)

Ethics Charges Filed on Houston State Rep. John Davis

While I was at the gym, the muse assistant did a little detective work for me. I promised you info on John Davis' (Republican incumbent, HD-129) American Express expenditures. In 2004, 2005 and 2006, he listed $43,243.78 in American Express expenditures on his Texas Ethics Commission Campaign Finance Reports with "miscellaneous expenditures" as the explanation of what the expenses were for. Something seems real odd here. I read the Texas Ethics Commission rules and here's what that says: § 20.59. Reporting Expenditure by Credit Card

A report of a political expenditure by credit card must identify the vendor who receives payment from the card company.

So, it's not OK to do this: American Express P.O. Box 650448 Dallas TX 75265-0448 20060101 $1,805.69 Miscellaneous expenses American Express P.O. Box 650448 Dallas TX 75265-0448 20060121 $1,715.23 Miscellaneous expenses American Express P.O. Box 650448 Dallas TX 75265-0448 20050207 $2,024.73 Miscellaneous expenses American Express P.O. Box 650448 Dallas TX 75265-0448 20060306 $1,412.25 Miscellaneous expenses (Read the dates like this: 20060101 is 1/1/2006.) These are just a few of the many AmEx items John Davis reported in this same way. Seriously, they add up to $43,243.78. (See one of the reports with the AmEx problem here.) I'm VERY confident this type of thing isn't ignored by the Texas Ethics Commission (once they find out). The muse assistant did a little more digging and found out that the Texas Ethics Commission filed against judicial candidate Robert Francis in July 2006 for reporting $8,644 to American Express without identifying the vendor who received payment. Francis' Campaign Finance Report is here. Do a search on that form for American Express and you'll see seven expenditures. You can see the Texas Ethics Commission Oder and Resolution of this case here. Their findings and conclusions were: 1. Each campaign finance report filed by a candidate is required to include the full name and address of the payee, date and purpose of the payment for each political expenditure exceeding $50 aggregate in the reporting period. ELEC. CODE § 254.031(a)(3). 2. A report of a political expenditure by credit card must identify the vendor who receives payment from the card company. Ethics Commission Rules § 20.59. 3. The respondent did not disclose the actual payee of the political expenditure; but instead disclosed the name of the credit card. 4. Therefore, there is credible evidence of a violation of section 254.031(a)(3) of the Election Code and section 20.59 of the Ethics Commission Rules. The sanction was: After considering the seriousness of the violation described under Sections III and IV, including the nature, circumstances, and consequences of the violation, and after considering the sanction necessary to deter future violations, the commission imposes a $700 civil penalty for the violation described under Sections III and IV. Will John Davis be held to the rules of the Texas Ethics Commission? Well, guess what. Ethics charges have been filed against him and there will be a hearing in September. I'm not done with this yet. There's more. Besides the AmEx charges. Besides the boots. Pop more popcorn.

John Davis Lists $1500 Pair of Boots as a Campaign Expense

Rick Casey had this to say in yesterday's Houston Chronicle: They're clever, our Texas legislators.

The law says they can spend campaign money on just about anything vaguely related to being a legislator but not on "personal expenses."

I'm terribly curious about how the law defines "personal expenses." Because I've been studying the Texas Ethics Commission filings of John Davis, who is the HD-129 incumbent. I think this may take several posts to cover everything, but I'll start with this: Bed Bath & Beyond 5400 Brodie Lane Suite 300 Austin TX 78745 3/2/2005 $155.51 Bedding Jersey Boots 607 A College Avenue South Houston TX 77587 5/29/2006 $1,537.15 Merchandise purchases Jesse's Shoe Repair 607 College South Houston TX 77587 10/8/2003 $92.56 Repairs I'm really curious about those boots. Do they have "VOTE for John Davis, HD-129" on them and so they count as a campaign expense? Maybe sort of a walking sign? Oh wait, that would be "Vote for John Dufus" like his real signs. I have more research to do. On his tens of thousands of dollars on an AmEx for "miscellaneous expenses". And, a bunch of other items listed as "reimbursement of out-of-pocket" expenses. Also, he sure does give a lot of gifts. Gift, gift, gift, gift listed over and over again. And, there is the hilarity of his campaign kick-off fish fry event that apparently cost more to put on than he raised in donations. More to come on this. Pop some popcorn in the meantime. Oh, and check out who team muse is supporting in the HD-129 race: Sherrie Matula. I block walked and phone banked for her this weekend, with some sign deliveries thrown in at the last minute. Volunteering for Sherrie is the easiest thing in the world, because it's so easy talking to voters about such a great candidate. And, the phone script rocks. Those BAND people make it all seem so simple. You gotta go volunteer for Sherrie! Headquarters are at 907 El Dorado in Clear Lake.

Throw Bush Overboard

Why couldn't everyone agree to this "thow Bush overboard" concept in 2004? Half the country got it back then. Now, the other half is catching on. Joe Scarborough piles on in the Washington Post, today. As alway, I bring you the good parts: I can't help but feel sorry for my old Republican friends in Congress who are fighting for their political lives. After all, it must be tough explaining to voters at their local Baptist church's Keep Congress Conservative Day that it was their party that took a $155 billion surplus and turned it into a record-setting $400 billion deficit. How exactly does one convince the teeming masses that Republicans deserve to stay in power despite botching a war, doubling the national debt, keeping company with Jack Abramoff, fumbling the response to Hurricane Katrina, expanding the government at record rates, raising cronyism to an art form, playing poker with Duke Cunningham, isolating America and repeatedly electing Tom DeLay as their House majority leader? (Cool. The more people hating Tom DeLay, the better. I'm not done with him yet. I need to see jail time to be truly happy.) How does a God-fearing Reagan Republican explain all that away? Easy. Blame George W. Bush. ----- But after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, most of them had no choice but to sulk in their cloakrooms, listen to Debby Boone on their iPods and take it like a man. (Joe, are there not any female Republican legislators? Perhaps they are listening to Barry Manilow on their ipods and taking it like a girl.) ----- So what if Bill Clinton misbehaved? At least that president found time to personally negotiate terms of subcommittee markups -- even if he was defiling the Oval Office at the same time. (Send Joe some of those "When My President Lied, Nobody Died" bumper stickers) ----- That silence -- proof that it is better to be feared than loved in politics -- has had devastating results. The United States is more divided than ever, our leaders are despised around the world, our fiscal situation is catastrophic and congressional approval ratings are the lowest ever. (Try telling this to Rumsfeld who is living living in his own little world. Joe, sounds like you are one of Rummy's facists.) ----- Some mutter that their leader's governing style looks more like Jimmy Carter's every day -- and among that crowd, there is no harsher insult. (Gosh, this is funny. Don't expect to see Bush at a Habitat For Humanity house-building effort after he leaves office, though.) ----- I would also look them in the eye and say that our president was wrong to believe that the United States could fight a war, cut taxes and increase federal spending, all at once. I would castigate my president for claiming to support homeland security while allowing our borders to remain wide open. No freaking kidding. Some people are slow to catch on. Do we want Congress to be led by people who didn't have the courage to stand up to this idiot (Joe's words), Bush? I say, no.

In the Ring with Joe Reasbeck

Bob Dunn at Fort Bend Now has interviewed the mysterious TX-22 write-in candidate, Joe Reasbeck. Sounds like Joe may be moving from Austin to Fort Bend County soon. He's a wrestler, so maybe he can wrest control over the pitiful Republican Party in Fort Bend and their scaredy cat candidates. I kind of like the fact that he's so big on staying in Iraq. That just gives me more motivation to work twice as hard to get our candidates elected and get our county, state and country on the right track. It's just what the Republican Party in TX-22 needs, another war monger (I'm talking about you, Shelley).

From Bob Dunn:

Then at the last minute someone else signed up as both a Republican and write-in candidate for CD-22 – a mystery man named Joe Reasbeck who, at this point, lives closer to Austin than Sugar Land but may be living in Fort Bend County very soon.

Reasbeck, a 37-year-old former college wrestler from Wisconsin, married a Texas woman and made the state his home. He calls himself a “centrist” who “vacillated between being a Republican and being an independent.”

“I’m running as a Republican,” he said in a recent interview. “I’d been looking for a way that I could serve, and this was an option to do that.”

Reasbeck doesn’t appear to be concerned over possibly serving as a spoiler to Sekula-Gibbs’ candidacy, which is clearly favored by state and local party leaders including most GOP precinct chairs in CD-22 who showed up for that fateful party gathering in Pearland last month.

“I didn’t like it that the current Republican candidate was chosen behind closed doors,” Reasbeck said. “I think we should have an election, and not an anointing.”

Reasbeck said he believes voters should have the opportunity to evaluate all the candidates and pick the best individual, not the best party.

“It’s not like we have a parliament in the United States,” he added. “I just didn’t like people running into the streets saying ‘We’ve got a person. Ya’ll must unify behind her now.”

So he’s running as a write-in Republican, on a platform that’s long on national security and the need to keep our military in Iraq.

The likes of Osama bin Laden “have already determined that Iraq is going to be the headquarters for the Pan-Islamic state,” Reasbeck said. “All they have to do is wait and make it messy and expensive” for the United States to keep an army in the country.

“Almost on cue,” he said, the Democrats have created a movement to get the U.S. military out. Reasbeck wants to do what he can to make sure that movement doesn’t gain traction. In the meantime, he won’t be providing Sekula-Gibbs with any traction, either.

Would You Vote For Shelley If . . .

I am so surprised. The Republicans are making up stuff. They've been running all over the place saying that Shelley's Super Special Poll shows her leading Nick Lampson by 11%. Oops. They forgot the super special qualifier.

A Baselice & Associates (R) poll; conducted 8/23-24 for Houston City Councilmember Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (R); surveyed 401 RVs; margin of error +/- 4.9% (release, 9/11). Tested: Ex-Rep. Nick Lampson (D) and Sekula-Gibbs.

If Sekula-Gibbs Were On The Ballot, For Whom Would You Vote?

Sekula-Gibbs - 46% Lampson - 35% Other/undec - 19%

Huh. So would you vote for Shelley if she was on the ballot, had fashion sense and/or would stop singing about how many times to vote for her to the tune of Roll Out the Barrel? None of these things are happening. None have happened. None will happen. No matter how much Tina Benkiser wants it to be so, Shelley is most definitely not on the ballot. Also, although RV stands for registered voter, what I've heard is that this was a very selective group of RV's. As in RRV's. Registered Republican Voters.

Fort Bend Republicans Are Scared Of Us!

In its entirety. From the Fort Bend Herald. Republicans are scared of the Democratic slate in Fort Bend County. As well they should be. We've got the signs. We're doing the block walking. We're doing the phone banking. We're doing the fundraisers. We've got the Democratic Club at the high school (and theirs folded). We've got the lasers. Be afraid. Be very afraid! For your reading pleasure: The Democratic Party in Fort Bend County this year is well-funded and has been highly active, said more than one Republican candidate at the Fort Bend County Republican Party Executive Committee meeting on Thursday. Fort Bend County has long been considered solidly Republican, but several contested candidates on Thursday evening told fellow Republicans that without a unified party and adequate funding, county-wide Democratic candidates could be elected into some offices for the first time in years. "The Democrats are working hard - extremely hard - and it's scary. So I come to you asking you to please continue to work with us," said Rebecca Anne Elliott, who is running for the District Clerk's office. Elliott faces Democrat Veronica Torres. The party was thrown into disarray in April, when former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, announced he would be resigning from his office. Since then, the party's attempt to field a replacement candidate was rebuked by federal courts, and intra-party divisions have become apparent at meetings of the Republican executive committee. Low polling numbers for President Bush and Gov. Rick Perry have also hurt the party, say some local politicians, and the popularity of two independent candidates for the governor's race could keep many Republicans from voting straight-ticket in 2006.

Republican candidates for office in 2006 on Thursday were given the opportunity to make brief statements before the executive committee, which is composed of the Republican precinct chairs in Fort Bend County. Bud Childers, the former County Attorney who is running for County Court at-Law No. 1, urged his party to offer financial support for its candidates. He is running against Democrat Rudy Velasquez, who works as an attorney for the city of Houston. "We need to uniformly get together and we need to need your help," he said. Treasurer candidate Jeff Council said the party needs to get the Republican vote out, "because we are seeing the Democrats are working hard." Democrat Neeta Sane also seeks the position. Precinct 3 Justice of the Peace candidate Ken Cannata stressed party unity. "Over the last three to four months, the Republicans have not done well and the Democrats are having a field day," he said. State Rep. District 27 candidate Ken Bryant, who is looking to unseat Dora Olivo, D-Rosenberg, said "it is time for us to unite." State Rep. District 28 candidate John Zerwas, meanwhile, said his biggest concern with the race is his own party. He is running against Dorothy Bottos of Hockley. Even Gov. Rick Perry has expressed concerns about the state of the party in Fort Bend County, according to unopposed State Rep. District 26 incumbent Charlie Howard, R-Sugar Land. Howard said he ensured Perry that Fort Bend County will support Republicans. For his part, Fort Bend County Republican Party Chairman Gary Gillen urged party members to put aside "petty jealousies and power grabs."

Fort Bend County Democratic Party Chair Elaine Bishop could not be reached for comment.

John Dufus Signs Spotted In Clear Lake

Wow, who would have guessed John Davis, the incumbent in HD-129, would be so bold as to put his nickname right on his signs. Since when has honesty been a Republican attribute? Remember, team, we are supporting Sherrie Matula in this race. Because she is smart, is an education expert and has a whole pile of endorsements. I am convinced that Davis stole the idea for the graphics of his sign from the logo of the Baylor Alumni Association. He got his BBA at Baylor. Here, you decide for yourself (click on it to make it larger):

Kinky Talks Crap

Well, I wouldn't have thought it could get any worse, but, by his own admission, Kinky has fired off his "worst interview ever". Ch. 8 news in the DFW got an earful. Kinky on issues: "I'm not serious about some issues," Friedman said. "I don't think people really, you know, I don't think they want to hear a bunch of rehearsed crap." Kinky on Jesus: "The problem is there's tons of good ideas and none of them can be implemented," he said. "None of them can be implemented with a bunch of money changers in the temple running this state." Kinky on shooting Mexicans: "I favor remember the Alamo," Friedman said when asked about his stance on immigration. Kinky on geography: "I'll tell you what my plan is, to acknowledge that we have a border with Mexico, we have a major problem with it and that this governor is ignoring it because he doesn't want to offend Hispanics," he said. Kinky on lowering homeowner insurance rates: "I'd get the career politicians." "I'd kick their [expletive] out of politics. That's what I'd do." Kinky on the Old Testament: But while kicking politicians out, Friedman said he would like to put back in the Ten Commandments and mandatory prayer for students in Texas public schools despite court rulings to the contrary. Kinky continues his Jesus obsession: "I see Jesus in everybody," he said. "And I think that you're asking me a very difficult and personal question, and I'm trying to give you a straight answer to this...On to the next." Kinky talks more crap: "All the little issues you're talking about are all (expletive)," he said. "It's all (expletives). That's the key. Okay, I mean, you can talk about, 'And I would deregulate this; and my plans is to give a seven percent raise on the textbook.' It's all (expletive) because the people who are doing this are crooks and they're corrupt and they don't give a (expletive) about the people of Texas. That's the truth." John Coby on Kinky's ugliness problem: Besides the fact that I don' t like kinky or how he has made a joke out of running for a very important political office, or how he has been able to insult every minority on the planet, or his stupid cigar tricks, besides all of that, this man is butt uggggg-leee! Photo advisory: Hide the children before clicking on the Bay Area Houston link. Why does Kinky have his mouth wide open with that thing in it in every photo? Gross. Nasty.

Sekula-Gibbs and PBS&J: Campaign Contribution and a City of Houston Contract

Bob Dunn at Fort Bend Now has an article up about PBS&J, a major Florida engineering company that is under federal investigation for illegal campaign contribution practices. They have contributed $500,000 to campaigns all across the country since 2003. They contributed to our Fort Bend County Judge (Bob Hebert, surprise) and county commissioners (surprise x4). I remembered a story from August about Shelley Sekula-Gibbs getting a PBS&J campaign contribution. They gave Shelley's campaign $250 on 2/6/2004. Click on that link and see the PBS&J FEC filing on that. And, I found this item from the Jan. 7, 2004 Houston City Council agenda: 25. Ordinance 2004-0010 ORDINANCE appropriating $371,500.00 out of Street & Bridge Consolidated Construction Fund as an additional appropriation for Regional Computerized Traffic Signal System (RCTSS) CMAQ Project under contract between the City of Houston and POST, BUCKLEY, SCHUH & JERNIGAN, INC d/b/a PBS&J (approved by Ordinance No. 01-1005), GFS N-0650-08-2

(d/b/a means “doing business as”)

From the Miami Herald, who broke the PBS&J story today: PBS & J and its leadership have backed scores of candidates across the country, Republicans and Democrats, for offices with influence over the kinds of lucrative government contracts the company often seeks. ----- PBS & J is an employee-owned firm with 75 offices and $530 million in 2005 revenue. It employs 3,900 people. Business segments include transportation, construction management and civil engineering, and the company gets regular business from government contracts. ----- A company spokeswoman has said company money was misappropriated in a complex scheme that led to millions of dollars in overcharges of state transportation agencies in Florida, Georgia, Texas and Nevada. PBS & J has been cooperating to pay back that money. ----- In South Florida, PBS & J spreads around smaller contributions among a large pool of local candidates who typically receive $500 or $250 each. It has won government contracts in both counties. Huh. Well, isn't this interesting? I'm wondering if there is a connection between the City of Houston doing business with PBS&J and the contribution to Shelley's campaign. Anyone else wondering the same thing?

Ann Richards 1933-2006

I met Ann Richards about a year ago or so at a private reception in Austin in a restaurant on 6th Street. She was exactly what you would expect. She was Ann Richards, smart, dry sense of humor, self-deprecating and fun to talk to. How great was it to talk politics with a Texas legend? Pretty great. Amazing. She looked exactly as she does in the photo to the right. The cool thing was that my mom was with me. This was a little bit more of a big deal to us than just being two lifelong Democrats meeting one of their heroes. When Ann rose to prominence, my mom started getting mistaken for her all over Austin and everywhere else. Same white hair. More than that of course. My mom is a well respected person, loved by many, is smart and fun to talk to, also. I knew enough about Ann Richard's type of cancer to know to expect this day to come soon. It doesn't make it any easier to hear the news.

It's Like Being Back In High School

For those who have a high school student taking up valuable space at your home and for those who have 25 high school students x 6 periods in your classroom, here's how it works: Mom asks the son: How are your grades? Son: I don't know mom. How are my grades? Mom: Sweetie, how would I know, I am not you. Tell me your grades are good. This is what I am expecting to hear. So, just tell me that. Make me happy. Son: Well, I'm not failing anything. Mom goes into a near hysterical rant about grades, video games, time wasted, what happens to underachieving students (end up being the Jack-in-the-Box mascot person, standing out on Hwy. 6 flagging down customers.) Mom sleeps poorly. Spends all day at work reminding herself she is a "bad mom" for not keeping track of the young son and his school work. Mom goes to open house at the high school where EVERY SINGLE CLASS appears to be extremely easy. Like classes a 5th grader could ace. Mom comes back home and wonders aloud about the mysterious progress report that all of the teachers assume the parents have seen. Son remarks brilliantly, "It's in my backpack!" A's and B's. Now see, here's where it gets tricky. Mom has been set up by the young son to think there will C's and D's. Mom is supposed to be thrilled about the progress report. Mom rants about the little known concept of "all A's" and asks the son about the quiz he has in Pre-AP World History tomorrow. (You see, this is the ONE night where mom actually has a clue what homework the son is supposed to be doing because she has just returned from the high school, where she took part in the annual fall festival known as "The Open House.") "The one about the Silk Road? I know ALL about the Silk Road. Plus, that's what study hall is for to study at the last minute so you retain knowledge better." Mom gives up. Who can argue with such stupendous logic? By the way. A high school full and overflowing with 40-50 year olds? Not a pretty sight.

Sherrie Matula Adds More Endorsements

Everyone admires Sherrie Matula who is running for the Texas House in district 129. A lot of us are crazy about her, but I have to wonder if she's getting just plain greedy with these endorsements. They are sorta piling up. Like in a big, huge pile. Todays annoucements? Texas State Teachers Association and the Houston 80-20 Asian American PAC. I've got photo evidence of the TSTA endorsement right here. Others? Texas Federation of Teachers (TFT) Harris County Young Democrats Planned Parenthood of Houston and Southeast Texas Action Fund Lone Star Sierra Club Texas State Representative Jessica Farrar Houston and Southeast Texas Action Fund Houston City Councilwoman Sue Lovell HCCS Trustee Jay Aiyer Former Congressional Candidate Richard Morrison The Honorable Joseph Jaworski The Honorable Nick Lampson Houston GLBT Political Caucus BlackDems Harris County Tejano Democrats Pasadena Educators Association Deer Park Educators Association La Porte Eductors Association Clear Creek Educators Association Region 3C/TSTA Galveston County locals Region 3C/TSTA East Harris County locals Bay Area New Democrats Harris County AFL-CIO ROAD Women Area 5 Democrats Sherrie. Tell me. Are there any more coming any time soon? Sherrie's agreed to adopt all of Charlie Howard's disaffected constituents when she gets elected. That means me. That means a lot of you. Let's make this happen! UPDATE: Shoot! I forgot to point you to Kuff's interview with Sherrie. Find that here. Good stuff!

Kinky Thinks He's Jesus
Just when you had just about decided that Kinky is a racist p**ck, he hauls off and airs a commercial claiming he is the Good Shepherd. Maybe Kinky is positioning himself as the Second Coming of Jesus. In John 10:11, Jesus says he is the Good Shepherd (harkening back to David, a real shepherd as a boy and the good shepherd of the Jews as King David.) So, now we have Kinky, the 21st century Good Shepherd, who said this today: "I don't eat tamales in the barrio, I don't eat fried chicken in the ghetto, I don't eat bagels with the Jews for breakfast," said Friedman, who is Jewish. "That to me is true racism." Someone explain to me how this completely delusional man has convinced himself he is Jesus Christ Incarnate. If he ends up getting votes from Democrats that belong to Chris Bell, then God bless us, we deserve another four years of Rick Perry.

Sekula-Gibbs Rolls Out The Cash Barrel on Sept. 11

Lot's more foolishness from Shelley. She is using Tom DeLay's email list to send targeted messages to the Republican true-believers. Oops. There are some Democrats on that email list and I got a hold of her September 11th missive to the Delay faithful. So you might think this email on the five year anniversary of 9-11 might be all about remembering and being strong and uniting (yeah, I read a recap of W's whiner of a speech on Monday night). Not so. Her email was mostly about raising funds for her campaign. Lots of clickable opps on that email to go straight to her donation page. Sounds like she got more than an email list from Tom DeLay. She got a crash course on "Tom DeLay's Tacky Tactics." Rolling out the barrel, Shelley, so you can fill it to the brim with cash right here, right now while the nation remembers Sept. 11th? Cute. I bet you a dollar she wore green yesterday. The subject header for her email was, "Join Me in a Prayer for Peace and Security" (and throw your money away on my hopeless, inept, corny campaign.) She also reveals her fear of stalking horses in the email. Have you ever been stalked by a horse? Do you fear stalking horses? Have you hallucinated about stalking horses? I thought not. Maybe this stalking horse paranoia comes with overuse of botox, or something. Speaking of fear, this may be Hal's one clue on Gibbs' opinion on the war in Iraq (from the email): "be mindful of what evil will visit us if we fail to defeat terrorism where it is born." That's sounds like a Bush-ism on the war, if I ever heard one.

Sing Along With Shelley! Corny Is Good!

I am positive you are going to think I made this up. But, no, I didn't. I have links and everything. A reporter from the big city of Los Angeles sailed into Clear Lake and experienced first hand the oddity that is Shelley Sekula-Gibbs. You remember I told you about how I saw her at the Shrimp Fest accosting people and telling them that they had to vote for her twice, holding up first one finger, then the other while she told them about the special and general elections. I knew there was a detail I omitted. She did this in a SING SONG voice. Well, it just gets worse. The intrepid reporter visited a breakfast meeting in Clear Lake recently, featuring Shelley. I wonder if she was dressed like scrambled eggs? I digress. I'll let Lianne Hart of the LA Times give you her eyewitness account: The women, meeting for breakfast in a hotel banquet room, looked up from their scrambled eggs as Sekula-Gibbs launched into a jingle to drive home the point: "Vote twice for Shelley," she sang to the tune of "Roll Out the Barrel." "Special and then write her in." The candidate motioned for them to join her in song, and most did, a few clapping in time. "It's corny, but corny is good," Sekula-Gibbs said. OK, I'll pause while you sing that to yourself. Because I know that's what you are doing. I can't help but offer substitute lyrics:

"I'm a freaking idiot, with absolutely no fashion sense."

So, corny is good in TX-22? I'd be alarmed and embarrassed that this has gotten out about our congressional district, but I have to remind myself that Shelley has been tasked to keep the TX-22 Republican Circus Act alive sometime through mid-December when the special election runoff takes place. Some call her a sacrificial lamb, but perhaps "clown" is a more appropriate term. Commenting on the challenge of the e-slate etch-a-sketch thingy, Shelley says (come on, say it outloud with brilliance in your voice - like a dermatologist): "This is a very educated district. People will get it," Sekula-Gibbs said. She may be the late-starting write-in candidate, but "people know who I am. We're rapidly making up ground…. We'd better, because it's a short time frame. I must be a super, hyper-educated individual, because what I get is that Nick Lampson will be elected my congressman on Nov. 7th. But, for fun, let's go ahead and encourage Shelley to continue thinking corny is good. I mean, hello, I have popcorn popping and everything. Oh, and thank goodness not everyone in Clear Lake embarrassed us, during the beer barrel polka sing-a-long: "The whole thing is crazy," said Judith Blanchard, a lawyer at the women's breakfast meeting who was sitting at what she called the "nonsinging table." "The Republican Party tried to do an end-run around the law and it backfired.

Chris Bell Within 5 Points of Governor Helmet Hair

The latest Wall Street Journal Zogby poll has only a five point spread between Chris Bell and Rick Perry in the governor's race. Perry is at 30.7% and Bell at 25.3%. I saw Chris Bell at an event in Clear Lake last week and he was terrific. Chris has all of the right ideas on education particularly when it comes to raising teacher salaries and getting a grip on the current accountability system that makes our teachers and kids slaves to the TAKS test. Perry, on the other hand, is not talking about education. Click here to see Ranger Rick's plastinated hair and that leather jacket he likes to wear when he wants to appear manly. Absolutely everyone knows I am a huge Chris Bell fan. Chris is going to make a great governor. It's just 42 days until early voting begins on October 23rd!

What To Wear To A Shrimp Fest by Shelley Sekula-Gibbs

Shelley ditched her usual pink and dressed in "shrimp" for the Sugar Land Rotary Club's annual Shrimp Fest on Saturday. The jacket looks orange in the photo, but rest assured, it was "shrimp" colored. The only one who should be dressed in "shrimp" would be the shrimp mascot that stood at the door and greeted everyone. Shelley was fashionably late for the festivities, and eventually ended up working the crowd. I heard she was early to Tom DeLay's church this morning and stood up her interview with an out of town reporter (she had given him a later time). Hmm. THAT is not fashionable. Shelley seems to have all sorts of fashion problems. Two of my friends think Shelley was dressed up for Halloween with the orange shirt and black tights. I still say the jacket was shrimp-colored. I'm sticking to that. The black tights? I was practically mesmerized by them, they were such an oddity. Shelley told everyone she approached that they had to vote for her two times on Nov. 7th. She'd hold up one finger, "once in the special" and then two fingers, "and the second time you need to write me in for the general." I didn't hear her talking issues with anyone, just doing show and tell voting instructions. Congressman Nick Lampson, D-Sugar Land? Yeah, he was there. Early. Worked the crowd the whole time. Heard lots from disaffected Republicans. Talked issues, issues, issues with everyone. And, it appears he is not a fashion victim. He's dressed as a congressman, not as a shrimp.

We Are The White Knights

Someone I really admire and respect, told me and some friends today that if we were looking for a white knight to charge in and make everything we wanted happen, then to realize that there is no white knight out there who is going to do that. We were asked to look around at each other to see the white knights that were going to do the work to get the results we want. This was great advice for life in general, and for all my friends in politics, in particular. Let the tournament begin. (And while I'm thinking about it, a shout out to Neeta Sane's husband who has been reading my blog for awhile and didn't realize until a couple of days ago, that his friend, me, is muse. He has been hoping to meet the writer of musings. :) Your wife is going to make a terrific Fort Bend County Treasurer! I'll see you both on Thursday!)

I've Had Enough!

Richard Morrison (yeah, the Tom DeLay slayer in TX-22!) created this and is partnering with Fort Bend Democrats to get this on the airwaves! You've seen our Had Enough signs all over Fort Bend County, now we want to take this to the voters homes on their television sets. Go to Fort Bend Democrats to learn more and contribute!

Probing Christine DeLay

I've been hearing a LOT of rumors about Christine DeLay and illegal activities. Part 2 of all the rumors is one of these scenarios: 1. DeLay made a deal with investigators to resign from Congress in exchange for them not going after Christine 2 Christine would squeal in return for immunity 3. DeLay would let Christine take the fall, somehow 4. DeLay would plead guilty in return for charges being dropped against Christine Do these people KNOW Tom DeLay like we do in TX-22? Cut and run Tom is not going to go rescue his wife. Far from it. He's already scampered off to Virginia while Christine stays behind as a permanent resident of the house in Sugar Land. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Justice Department is investigating Christine DeLay to determine if she took $3200/month salary for three years from a lobbying firm for work she did not do. They are questioning former employees of the firm as well as people who work in the same building to find out how often she showed up at the office, how long she was there and what type of work she did. The lobbying firm, Alexander Strategy, was run by two former DeLay aides, Tony Rudy (pled guilty to bribery charges earlier this year) and Edwin Buckham (under indictment). The investigors also asked about the $144,000 Christine received from ARMPAC which was housed in Alexander Strategy's offices. DeLay's lawyer said Christine was a real, live employee making giant, long lists of lawmakers' favorite charities, month after long month, year after year. Here's what the feds did to nail Rudy, who pled guilty to accepting bribes when he worked for DeLay and later conspiring to bribe other lawmakers when he was a lobbyist: As part of the plea deal, Mr. Rudy told prosecutors that he sabotaged an Internet-gambling bill on Capitol Hill in exchange for $50,000 in payments to his wife. In return for his cooperation, federal prosecutors agreed to give Mr. Rudy a lighter sentence and not to prosecute his wife. Actually, I can see DeLay going for this. But, only if they give him a lighter sentence. I still say there's no way he's making an even exchange for saving Christine's butt while he goes to the slammer until his face lift falls. On a related note, did you see where DeLay is using his congressional email list to affect the results of reality TV shows? The former "most powerful man in Congress" is begging for Dancing With the Stars votes.

Pushing A Poll On TX-22 Voters

Shelley is claiming to her supporters that she will release poll results today that show her up 10% over Lampson. She conducted a push poll last week, right before the write-in deadline. A push poll is one of those that asks a series of questions, each one phrased so that the candidate paying for the poll looks like, for example, that she can not only heal acne, but make the lame walk, and her opponent causes voters to be inflicted with a plague of boils. When given those two choices, and more just like those, the caller finally gives in and says OK, OK, I'll write in Shelley Walks On Water, if you'll just end this call. I heard this was a long phone poll. I'm guessing she wanted to release the poll results last week on the write-in filing deadline, but Lampson decided to write-off the write-in, leaving Shelley to play in that sandbox with her Republican playmates. Speaking of who she plays with, have you read this?

Shelley Fascinates

You know, with all of the news about Bush's low poll numbers and The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN and others sounding the alarm bells for Republican's chances to maintain control of the House (and the whole lot of them scrambling to get away from the President and his failed policies), it's absolutely fascinating to find Shelley, our "Write Me In With A Pink Sharpie", wannabe congresswoman, chirping lines straight out of Rove's Guide To Winning In 2004 playbook. Our favorite, Bob Dunn with Fort Bend Now, reports on the Monday Mexican fiesta at Berryhill Baja Grill in Sugar Land with Shelley and 60 curiousity seekers (yeah, insert a reminder here about how the Fort Bend Dems thing on Sunday drew 250+). I am SO tired of Republicans eating mexican food in Sugar Land, by the way. DeLay eats at Ninfa's on Hwy. 6 and I barely feel I can step in that place anymore and now Shelley has ruined my appetite for Berryhill's which I frequent. Shelley said the goofiest stuff: Sekula-Gibbs harkened back to the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on the World Trade Center, emphasized the threat of terrorism, talked of the need for making recent tax cuts permanent and spoke out against stem-cell research. (scare me, Shelley) ----- On Monday, Sekula-Gibbs said the U.S. must not provide amnesty to illegal immigrants, because doing so would “reduce the value of citizenship” for other Americans. (GIVE ME A BREAK) -----

A dermatologist, Sekula-Gibbs said scientific breakthroughs are close, which would allow researchers to obtain adult stem cells from a person’s skin that then could be “regressed” to become the equivalent of embryonic stem cells.

Embryonic stem cells should not be used for research on disease prevention because “they cannot give consent, so we cannot work on them. End of story.” (GOOD. Does this mean we don't have to hear this story from you again?)

-----

Sekula-Gibbs said her campaign could use funding “to help with TV” ads. But she said she’ll rely on an extensive mailing list to generate multiple mailings as part of an educational campaign, to get her name before the Republican voting base and to show them the write-in process. (The muse decoder ring says: Shelley has figured out she isn't seeing a dime of the promised $3 million.) Oh, and I'll be doing an informal poll this weekend in Fort Bend to calculate Shelley support. If your hair is standing on end, I'll put you in the Pink column. If you have a normal hairdo, I'm slapping a Lampson bumper sticker on your vehicle: She said she expects Lampson to employ significant television advertising, adding, “if you hear stuff on TV about Shelley that makes your hair stand up,” it’s not true.

I Was Blind, But Now I See

Those who know me well (todyeh), know I am not exactly at my peak in the morning. I'm talking about all the way until noon. So, no wonder I didn't see this when I checked the Tahoe this morning for the Albert Hollan bumper sticker that Albert SWORE he put on EVERYONE'S vehicle last night at our Fort Bend Democrats Labor Day kick-off event: As I was coming out of the gym today, I saw this on my Tahoe from far away and started laughing out loud. If you were at Lifetime Fitness today, I was the crazed woman in the parking lot. Here's what you need to know about Albert Hollan: He is qualified and his opponent is not. I'm going to let Bryan tell you why you should support Albert: In the interview Albert talks about how his opponent Brady Elliot has been censured by the State Commission of Judicial Conduct. And while that is an important reason why we need a new judge, there are so many more reasons. Judge Elliot is simply out of control and the justice system in Fort Bend is paying the price. He commonly tells his bailiffs to keep prisoners locked up until they learn to speak English. He has denied a translator for a family member of a victim even though it was obvious she could not speak English very well. And he is soft of sex offenders. He let Jon Matthews, who plead guilty to exposing himself to a minor, off on probation. He of course broke that probation by being caught with pornography. But the most important reason is because Albert Hollan is very simply a just and decent man. Put that together with is competence and his qualifications, and you have the potential for the best judge Fort Bend has ever seen. The interview Bryan is referring to is Kuffner's interview with Hollan which can be found here. I'm a huge Albert Hollan fan! Jealous of my magnet?

Get Over It, Shelley

There is no way you are going to see the $3 million promised you by Tina Benkiser, God's co-chair of the Republican Party of Texas. There is a New York Times article today laying out the case that Democrats will take over the House. They have an interactive map thingie that shows 46 competitive House seats. Many of them have become more competitive since May. No current Democratic seats are in danger of flipping. Guess what, Shelley? Our district is not one of the 35 that are a toss up or leaning Republican right now. "DeLay's seat" is looking like a solid Democratic (Lampson!) pickup. The NYT classifies us as "leaning Democratic". So, explain to us why the RNC would be willing to send $3-4 million to you, when they need to scramble all over the place to save their legislative butts in the "tossup" and "leaning Republican" races? Some good stuff from the NYT article: Two independent political analysts have, in recent weeks, forecast a narrow Democratic takeover of the House, if current political conditions persist. Stuart Rothenberg, who had predicted Democratic gains of 8 to 12 seats in the House, now projects 15 to 20. Democrats need 15 to regain the majority. Charles Cook, the other analyst, said: “If nothing changes, I think the House will turn. The key is, if nothing changes.” ------ National polls show that key indicators — presidential approval ratings, Congressional approval ratings, attitudes on the direction of the country — reflect an electorate unhappy with the status quo and open to change.

“It’s the most difficult off-year cycle for the Republicans since 1982,” said Representative Tom Cole, Republican of Oklahoma and former chief of staff to the Republican National Committee. “Environmentally, it’s about as good from the Democratic perspective as they could hope to have.”

Juanita noticed that the Washington Post has a similar article today, predicting that Dems will take control of the House. Donate to Nick; donate to Shane.

Fort Bend Democrats Took Over Sugar Land Last Night!

Over 200 Fort Bend Democrats took over the Sugar Land Community Center last night to meet, cheer on and laugh with around 15 statewide and local candidates. Take that, Fort-Bend-Repubican-Party-in-Disarray! The food? Barbeque, of course. Every candidate I talked to said this was about the third barbeque dinner they'd had in two days and they were going to have more today. Glad to know we are hip to the popular candidate cuisine. One of the cool things for me was that the crowd wasn't just the same old die hards you see at every event. I get kind of used to that. I go to a political event and see all of my friends and a few new faces. This wasn't like that at all. These are the voters and activists who are going to turn Fort Bend Blue on Nov. 7th! The speakers were terrific. Kudos to our local candidates - Rudy Velasquez (I enjoyed talking to his wife, as always), Albert Hollan (who cracks me up with his stump speech about his qualifications vs. his opponents, uh, total lack thereof), Veronica Torres (big cheers for our next District Clerk!), Neeta Sane and Farhan Shamsi. Neeta is always enthusiastic and it seems that Farhan has been taking lessons from her, because he really worked the crowd when it was his turn to speak! Chris Bell: fantastic. Funny, funny, funny. And, he's talking about the issues that are important to our state. He's so pro-education and understand the mess we are in here in Texas. Let's get him elected! And Adam, I know you are reading this, so send me the Bell blogger stuff we talked about. :) Hank Gilbert (Agriculture Commissioner): hilarious! And, smart. His comment about how his opponent wouldn't know how to wipe a cow's ass became a running joke with all of the candidates who followed ("how DO you wipe a cow's ass?). Our Fort Bend Congressman Trio spoke, and seriously, this county is ready for all three of our congressmen to be Democrats! First up, Shane Sklar (I got a Shane Sklar t-shirt last night, which I just might wear today). The differences between him and his opponent are pretty clear - Shane makes sense and Ron Paul does not. Al Green was the keynote. The crowd LOVED him. And, then, my favorite candidate, Nick Lampson finished up the night for us with a rousing speech - I've never seen him so fired up - with a Had Enough? sign in hand, continually asking us if we've had enough and what were we going to do about it? Vote Democratic! Hal has a good post up about the event (at Full and Overflowing). I don't have an Albert Hollan magnet on my vehicle!! Albert! Save one for me. Thanks for joining us, Sherrie Matula! Everyone in Charlie Howard's House District is adopting you since he doesn't have an opponent. BAND headquarters grand opening today from 5-7 pm! If you missed Chris Bell, Barbara Radnofsky, Nick Lampson and Shane Sklar last night, here is your chance to play catch up!

Had Enough Of The Alarming State of Education In Texas?

Great article in the Houston Chronicle today laying out the case as to how the education system in Texas is not serving Hispanic students. Would more people become alarmed and get interested in this if they knew that it is predicted in 35 years, the average Texas household will earn $6500 less than it does now (more if adjusted for inflation)? The need for social services, health care and prisons will increase. We could be an economically poor state and we will look back and point to the disastrous decisions on education made today by our Republican majority state government. By 2025, the state will become majority Hispanic. Nothing alarming there, except that we are doing a pathetic job of educating Hispanic children now, which is going to lead to huge problems later if we don't get our act together. 45% of the public school population is Hispanic children, yet 48% of dropouts are Hispanic. In some schools, Hispanics and other minorities make up 90% of the school population. Link this to the fact that in 2004-2005, the TAKS scores in 5th-11th grade showed a 60 point difference between white students and limited English proficient students and you begin to see the harm we are doing to a huge proportion of our school children by being negligent and complacent. I have no confidence in our state government to solve the enormous problems facing Texas schools. The latest "education reform" legislation was all about lowering property taxes, not improving education. We probably need a "think tank" type group on this or a series of summit meetings called on this issue of educating our Hispanic students (calling Mayor White!) Read the whole Chronicle article. A whole host of experts in everything from population to education are cited. And, please work to get expert educators into our the Texas House this fall, like Sherrie Matula (Pasadena/Clear Lake area) and Diane Trautman (Kingwood area). It really doesn't matter if you live in their district or not. You can donate money, which will be hugely beneficial in their efforts to win in November. We have an education crisis now and a state-wide economic problem ahead of us. If simply doing what's right for children doesn't get people's attention, will the economic angle wake people up?

Vouchers - Bad! Sherrie Matula - Good!

I'm going to pretend another TX-22 blogger didn't already post on this. There's a hearing on vouchers in Houston this week. The Texas Senate Education committee is holding this "hearing" on Wednesday, Sept. 6th at 12:30 p.m. at the University of Houston Hilton (Shamrock Room, Suite 261B). Public testimony will begin around mid-afternoon. Testimony has been solicited from about six voucher supporters, including Leininger's cronies. Same Leininger who has given over $100,000 to Carole Keeton Rylander Strayhorn since 2000. That would be because wannabe Grandma used to be a voucher supporter until she flip-flopped to win teacher endorsements this year. Leininger also secured a $950,000 loan for her during her 1998 race for state comptroller. In 1999, Strayhorn supported a voucher system that failed in the Texas legislature. Ick. This hearing is not cool. Sounds like a stunt to me, along the lines of those Leininger supported billboards that are sprouting up around Texas. Republicans resort to fear tactics and non-sensical arguments. I'm sure you are as shocked as I am. Sherrie Matula, running in HD-129, can tell you all about why vouchers are a terrible idea. She characterizes vouchers and their proponents as a "hostility toward learning and our children." She's right. Public education is a cornerstone of our democracy. We need to put our precious few resources into quality education for all children, not in some scheme that relies on a substandard, unregulated private school voucher system. By the way, Leininger's own children were homeschooled. What in the world makes him an expert on public school education? Answer: money. Lots of money. Counter that with a donation to Sherrie's campaign. Sherrie's endorsements include TFT and TSTA. Donate. It will make you feel good. It made me feel good when I did it. She has a fundraising thing going on - 100 donations in 14 days. Don't you want to be one of the 100 cool kids?